Smart card delays dog city motorists

• Temporary slips not accepted outside State
• Daily transactions affected in Greater Hyd
• Smart card printing halted in some RTA offices
• Lack of communication from RTA via SMS or media
• Vehicle owners using temporary registration stickers due to delays

Hyderabad: The owners who got their vehicles registered and those who have attended the driving test at the Road Transport Authority (RTA) are compelled to wait for some more days for the issue of smart cards, which contain details about RCs and DLs. RTAs are facing a shortage of smart cards, leaving applicants in the lurch. The delay in dispatching these vital documents is causing inconvenience to the motorists in the city.

Motorists are facing severe inconvenience these days due to the inordinate delay in the issuance of smart cards for the last 15 days. This issue has been prevailing at all RTA offices in Greater Hyderabad, resulting in motorists being forced to do rounds of the RTA offices.

According to sources, over 500–600 such transactions were done in eleven RTA offices every day. Some offices have stopped printing smart cards for the last ten days. RTA offices print nearly 400 smart cards, and offices with a testing track print more than 500 cards.

The documents, including RCs, DLs, C-books, duplicate licenses, renewal cards, and over 56 transport-related transactions, are delayed because of the shortage of smart cards in the RTA department. Sources said that the issuing of cards is pending in Moosarambagh, Uppal, Ibrahimpatnam, Bandlaguda, and other offices.

Telangana Auto and Motor Welfare Union general secretary, M Dayanand, demanded to know why authorities are being negligent when the RTA is collecting Rs 400 towards service charges, Rs 250 for smart cards, and Rs 35 as postal charges to dispatch the cards. “What type of service are you giving? Why do people have to suffer for departmental internal problems? People are afraid to go outside the State. Authorities in other States are objecting to the slip, which is valid for seven days, and they are not accepting online downloads,” said Dayanand.

He said that the former transport minister, Vemula Prashant Reddy, had set up a committee to resolve such issues, particularly delays in dispatching smart cards. However, it is not clear whether it is being continued by the present government.

In fact, the RTA is now not sending any SMS to applicants or alerting the media regarding the delay in dispatching smart cards.

The problem arises when vehicle owners go to fix the number plate, cross the State borders, and during vehicle checking. The agents at automobile showrooms fix the high-security registration plate only after seeing the original RC card. With this, many vehicle owners are driving with Temporary Registration (TR) stickers.